THE Australian Government was hampering the investigation into the
death of a TV news cameraman in East Timor because of its political ties
with Indonesia, NSW police said today.

Brian Peters, who was working for the Nine Network, was killed along
with four other Australian newsmen in Balibo, East Timor, in October 1975.

They were killed when Indonesian military forces were pushing inland on
the first day of the invasion of East Timor.

Previous official reports have said the Balibo Five – Greg Shackleton,
Gary Cunningham, Tony Stewart, Malcolm Rennie and Mr Peters – were
killed in crossfire between warring Timorese factions.

But a report earlier this year by East Timor's Commission for Truth and
Reconciliation said that, based on witness interviews, it believed the
five men were probably executed by Indonesian soldiers.

That report sparked fresh calls for Australia to hold a judicial
inquiry into the deaths.

An inquest into Mr Peters' death is due to be heard in the NSW
Coroner's Court in Glebe, Sydney, in July.

But Detective Sergeant Steve Thomas of the NSW Coronial Assistance Unit
said the investigation had come to a halt.

Police were unable to get the co-operation of the federal
Attorney-General's Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs and
Trade (DFAT) that would allow them to travel to Indonesia to arrange an
examination of Mr Peters' remains and to meet persons of interest.

Det Sgt Thomas, who took the stand in the coroner's court during a
mention of the matter yesterday, said he had asked DFAT to lodge a mutual
assistance request with Indonesia in April.

Investigators were given three reasons for the Federal Government's
inaction, he said: "The history of (Indonesia's) non-compliance in
mutual assistance requests, the implication of the Indonesian military and
Australia's political links with Indonesia."

He said he raised the difficulties during yesterday's hearing to put
his frustrations on the record.

"We needed to show the court the lengths we are going to get
(assistance)," he said.

Rodney Lewis, the lawyer representing Mr Peters' relatives, said the
family was also frustrated with the delays.

"You can imagine how upsetting it is for the relatives of the
deceased to discover that our own DFAT is unwilling to ask the Indonesian
government for its help under a well-understood mutual assistance protocol
which has apparently been followed in other cases," Mr Lewis said
today.

"We understand that relations between Indonesia and Australia are
sensitive but there may be allegations of murder at the inquest so that
relationship will need to be subordinated to the interests of justice and
a proper forensic inquiry into the facts."